For those of you out of the loop i.e. most Americans and everyone else around the world, today is Canada Day. Many people are asking how old Canada is in 2009? The answer is 142! 142 years of being a constitutional monarchy and even more importantly, 142 years of inventing and creating things that nobody in their right mind figured was Canadian.
So on that note, I thought it would be appropriate for me to educate you guys on a few things that are 100% Canadian. Here is my list of 22 Canadian Creations You Might Not Know About:
- Superman – Conceptualized and created by Joe Shuster and Jerome Siegel (1938)
- The Telephone – Invented by Alexander Graham Bell (1874)
- Basketball – Created by James Naismith (1892)
- Anti gravity suit – Wilbur R. Franks (1940)
- Electric wheelchair – Invented by George J. Klein
- Five pin bowling – Thomas E. Ryan (1909)
- Frozen fish – Dr. Archibald G. Huntsman (1926)
- Zipper – Conceptualized by Gideon Sundback (1913)
- Pictionary – Created by Rob Angel (1986)
- Insulin (as diabetes treatment) – Dr. Frederick Banting, Dr. Charles Best and Dr. Collip (1921)
- Walkie-Talkie – Invented by Donald L. Hings (1942)
- Electric cooking range – Invented by Thomas Ahearn (1882)
- Trivial Pursuit – Created by Chris Haney, John Haney and Scott Abbott (1982)
- Cobalt bomb – University of Saskatchewan and Eldorado Mining and Refining (1951)
- Air-conditioned railway coach – Invented by Henry Ruttan (1858)
- IMAX – Created by Grahame Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr (1968)
- Lightbulb (first patented) – Henry Woodward (1874)
- Nursing Mother Breast Pads – Marsha Skrypuch (1986)
- Retractable beer carton handle (Tuck-away-handle Beer Carton) – Steve Pasjac (1957)
- Electron microscope – Prof. E. F. Burton and Cecil Hall, James Hillier and Albert Prebus (late 1930s)
- Wonderbra – Invented by Louise Poirier (1964)
- Heart Pacemaker – Invented by Dr. John Hopps (1949)
References: Canadian Inventions
***And to some of our less-informed cousins south of the border: no, it doesn’t snow all year round, and no, not all of our police men and women ride horses. Oh yeah – and we don’t live in igloos.
Happy Canada Day!
Cheers,
Elijah
Molson…
Sounds like a good day to turn one up for you Eli!
.-= Mark´s last blog ..5 Ways to Make Your Site Sticky and Increase Your ePN ACRU Quality =-.
Moosehead…
Celebrated in style! Spent the evening remembering the good old days playing chess with woody harrelson in the ‘hotbox’ cafe, getting lost in Honest Ed’s and ending up most nights at the Dance Cave.
Happy days, and Happy Canada Day bro.
TO rocks, eh!
.-= Nota Bene Consulting´s last blog ..Twitter.com/nbconsulting =-.
Sweet… didn’t realize all that and of course any country that invents ANYTHING that has to do with beer is A+++ in my book hahaha
.-= Jake´s last blog ..Do You Use Continuous Data Protection? =-.
Wait, wait, wait. Are you seriously telling me that someone actually invented the anti-gravity suit? And it works? And I don’t have one?
E. My birthday is November 22, and I expect to have one on my doorstep no later than the Saturday of that week. Thank you.
@Mark – You know what, I still love Molson Canadian. Most of my friends say “ahh.. it’s moose piss” but I think it’s a fine lager!
@Neal – I remember the good ol days of dropping acid, drinking a 40 and smoking an L on the way to honest eds. Man that place is a trip! Last time I was at dance cave (over a year ago) I got kicked out for throwing a pint glass at their Christmas tree.
@Jake – Yeah yeah.. we’re beer drinkers. But we can’t help it, we make beer that taste yummy!
@WV – Check. We should definitely blog from space.
.-= Elijah´s last blog ..NicheOnDemand Not Accepting New Orders For July 2009. =-.
Elijah.. i know we have pussy beer down here hahah I’ll admit I drink light beer mostly for my “figure” ha.. but i will tell you this.. we discovered a local brewery and I’ve been trying all the different lagers and dark beers..
Man… It’s hard to go back to the pussy beer after that haha!
.-= Jake´s last blog ..It’s Friday – I’m Missing My Old Hobby! =-.
It’s funny that as someone who was not born here I knew most of the things you mentioned. But I would guess that the majority of Canadians doesn’t. I didn’t go to primary or secondary school in Canada (my girls are still in bed or I’d ask) do they teach this stuff in schools here?
If not.. maybe it’s time they did. Imagine the pride youngsters would have knowing that “we” continue to make these sort of contributions.
BTW are you sure it doesn’t snow all year? it’s July and it’s still a bit chilly 🙂
Without any doubts, Canada is a great nation.
.-= Chris De La Rosa´s last blog ..Lunch date at Niagara On The Lake. =-.
Yo, did you take this picture in Vancouver while you were drinking your 5th beer in Stanley Park?
All I got to say is, where would people be today without zippers??? Exactly! Think about that man, think about that!
Canada Fkn Rocks!
Big Head
Superman created by Canadians?? I thought its Britain lol
@Lean Cuisine – Nope! The man of steel is 100% Canadian made!
.-= Elijah´s last blog ..Custom Paypal Payment Page & Customer Experience =-.
Some people might give you an argument over the Walkie Talkie. Namely Al Goss, who was an American who invented a 2 way radio in 1938 and Motorola who got involved in the development of Walkie Talkies in the 1940s.
In any event, it is an impressive list of inventions and you should be proud of the Canadian contribution.